It is the goal of the members of the division of maternal and fetal medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University to become a part of a cooperative multicenter network of maternal-fetal medicine units to investigate problems in clinical obstetrics, particularly those related to the prevention of low birth weight infants. We would hope to facilitate resolution of these problems through vigorous patient evaluation using common protocols. We have the professional staffing, both in maternal and fetal medicine and neonatology, the perinatal database system, the high risk pregnancy population, and the clinical support network to be an important part of such a multicenter network.